Beastly Instinct
by RendezvousPoint
Summary: A nine-tailed cat as a pet is rare, but a nine-tailed cat that can transform into a human isn’t good for the heart. Especially if the boy-cat leaves delicious vibes of beastly pheromone in his wake, the one that put even humans to his feet. SasuNaru AU
1. Spring Miscarriage

_Note__: To the reviewers and readers of Beastly Instinct's Preview, thank you for giving your positive responses. I really appreciate it! And now I'm posting the complete story, I hope you'll enjoy! :-)_

* * *

**Beastly Instinct**

_Chapter 1: Spring Miscarriage_

The first scent he smelled when he woke up was the sweet fragrant of spring wind mixed with flower, grass, and damp soil. A ray of sunlight fell to his drowsy eyes and blinded his vision in its brilliance, causing him to whimper out in annoyance, blocking the light with his palm.

He furrowed his eyebrows as he tried to open his heavy eyelids. He looked around and finally found it was already morning. Bringing his body to sit, he yawned loudly. A pair of fangs was seen clearly as he yawned widely, stretching his body to relieve stiff nerves.

Then he paused.

He felt a strange painful sensation surging within his stomach and a wave of heat pooling, he could hear the beats of his heart accelerating in his keen ears. A very familiar sensation he knew too well, but not too fond of.

Naruto perked up when his ears caught a bell's jingles.

He decided to ignore the odd sensation and got off the bed to see the coming costumer. He walked over to the entrance and turned the door knob, peeking his head through the loophole. He scanned the surroundings and found no one was around, except Kiba, who was playing Frisbee with some cubs in the yard. Other than that, the hallway was cleared. The others must be still asleep.

Soundlessly, Naruto closed the door behind him and walked towards the main hall of the house, where the house's caretaker and the costumer supposed to be. The blonde stopped and hid himself behind the wall as he caught their forms, taking in the sight of a dark-haired female who was talking with Kakashi in the counter.

"How may I help you, Miss?" The silver haired man asked politely.

"Yes, please. I am here to fetch a cat. But it's not mine, I'm just representing the owner." The woman said, sounding a bit nervous. She seemed a bit surprised by the size of the house.

"Oh. Yes, I understand. Then please follow me, and please show the ownership document." Kakashi said, smiling commercially at the brunette.

Naruto hid his ears beneath his hands as Kakashi led the costumer to another hall, waiting until the two vanished from his line of view. When they did, Naruto peeked in and scanned the hallway again, mewling in please when he found the hallway was empty, yet again.

Stealthily, he slowly walked past the main hallway and approached a door under the stairs, the basement door. He paused when he heard sounds coming from the west corridor, almost immediately ducked in to the counter. Naruto heard giggles of females came closer as he held his breath, identifying them as Ino's and Sakura's voices.

"Eh! Kakashi-san is not here!" He heard Ino whined.

"Maybe he's in the yard?" Sakura's voice said.

"Really? Let's go check it!" Naruto heard them began walking again, but one of them suddenly stopped. "Hey, I smell something." She said.

"What?"

"I think…it smells like Naruto-san." Naruto held his breath.

"Really? I don't smell anything…" Sakura said.

"It's because your nose isn't as sharp as mine!" Ino gushed. "But…I guess it's just me. The scent is fading, he must've already left. You know his scent is very strong. Anyway, let's go. I'm hungry!"

Naruto heard their footsteps began fading and he sighed in relief. He slowly stood up. Wasting no time, he approached the basement door under the stairs, grabbing the handle. Once again scanned his surroundings, in case those girls were returning. But he found none of them.

Maybe Ino's nose wasn't as sharp as it used to be.

Naruto went down the stairs and saw a huge stall was placed in the middle of the room. He approached the stall, smelling the cleanliness and lavender-scented soap. Kakashi must've washed it yesterday. Unlocking the entrance, he went in and settled himself on dry straws. Feeling the straws plucking to his stomach didn't seem very comfortable, but he decided to endure. Naruto lowered his head as he tried to ignore the painful wave circling inside his cavity.

_I must hold it until the week is over_, he mused to himself, a wave of sleepiness overcame his mind as he relaxed his body.

When he closed his eyes, Naruto smelled the scent of cherry blossom and green grass, and most of all, irresistible sweet sugary fragrant that the wind carried from outside. He knew it was only a matter of time before the whole house became overflowed by the thick scent.

It would be best to stay asleep when the time came.

* * *

"…As I was saying, it would be best if you remain cautious while approaching it." Kakashi explained as they walked down the hallway. The brunette costumer walked beside him, nodding understandingly.

"Yes, I will do my best not to intimidate it." She said with a smile, contrary to her paling feature.

"And here we are." The silver-haired man exclaimed as he stood in front of a door located under the stairs, grabbing the door knob. "Oh. And he's put in a stall, don't worry about it. You may need something to lift it, though. The beautiful thing is quite heavy."

"Oh! How heavy is it?" She asked.

Kakashi gave a thoughtful gesture. "Well, the largest may weighed over a ton." When he saw her blanching face, he immediately added with a smile. "But this one weighed only several hundreds of kilogram. He's quite light."

"I see," The brunette muttered, repositioning her dropping spectacles in nervous manner.

Kakashi turned to the door. "Now let's proceed—"

When he was about to turn the knob, sudden barks echoed throughout the hallway, causing Kakashi to pause. Then seconds later a black dog came running towards the two with another animal that looked like a huge black cat tailing lazily from behind him. The dog approached the silver-haired man in hurry, sticking out its tongue as if he had run a mile.

Kakashi crouched down to its eye level. "What is it?" He asked.

The black dog barked aloud, seemingly talking to the man. And Kakashi nodded as if he understood. Then Kakashi got on his feet and turned to the female costumer. "I'm very, very sorry, Miss. I have to go to the maternity. There is a mother in labor waiting for me there."

"What?" She gaped in disbelief, eyes wide.

"Don't worry. He's very calm. He won't bite you. I will call some men to help you." Then Kakashi turned to the black dog, patting a hand over his head. The dog stuck his tongue out and licked his hand. "Let's go, Kiba."

Then the man walked away in a rush with the black dog in his side. But as he vanished from her view, the huge jet black feline stayed at the corner, settling himself. The brunette reeled back when its golden eyes caught her form, eying quietly at her from head to toe as if judging.

The brunette suddenly felt a chill running down her spines, she felt a bead of cold sweat trickled down her temples. Quickly, she lashed behind the door, slamming it close on the other side.

"What is _that_…?" She muttered shakily. "It looks…looks like a panther."

She shook her head, trying to regain composure. "Alright, alright. Calm down, Karin. You can deal with this. You're here to fetch the cat you're asked for. It's your job. After this you can get the hell out of here, then get a praise from your hot boss." She inhaled deeply and exhaled.

Turning on her back, she went down the stairway to a large room she presumed as the basement. When she reached the bottom, a sight of a lone stall came to her view. Gulping, she gathered her courage and approached the stall. She was close enough with the stall when she heard steady breaths coming from inside the cage. Reluctantly, she walked to the front and peeked in.

Then her eyes widened and her jaw dropped a few inches at the sight, reeling back unconsciously.

"Oh my God…"

* * *

Sasuke hung up the phone, clenching his jaw tightly in irritation.

Then he cast a look at the brunette vassal from the lowered window, who immediately nodded in understanding, a tense look overcoming his face. He realized his master was irritated. A quick look at his face and you'll know. He was an Uchiha, even though he showed no distinct facial expression, the eyes screamed it all.

The Uchiha wasn't amused.

He immediately stepped off the car when the servant opened it for him, shoving his briefcase into his hands. Sasuke walked past maids who greeted him along his way, as he entered the mansion. The servant was having a hard time tailing him from behind, bringing the briefcase.

Gritting his teeth, Sasuke sped.

_A cat_, he mused angrily, _he sent me here all the way there just to fetch a damn feline_, _and now he said he couldn't make it after all?_

Sasuke didn't heed the maids' and servants' respectful bows as he strolled down the hallway, stopping when he reached the end of hallway, where his secretary, Karin, was waiting for him in front of a room.

"Where is it?" The Uchiha demanded.

"Behind the door." Karin answered, glancing at the two-leaves door. "We've caged it inside."

"Good." Sasuke said, releasing a relieved sigh. Suddenly feeling hot, he pulled at his tie, missing the look on his secretary's face as he did.

Glancing at the closed door that was guarded by two bodyguards on either side, he wrinkled his nose incredulously. "I can't believe this." He moaned out.

"A private room just for a cat. Ridiculous. Not even a Hollywood star's pet get this much of luxury. If he's not a business partner, I wouldn't grant this ridiculous request." Sasuke uttered, furrows emerged between his eyebrows.

"Um, sir?" Karin reluctantly called. "I'm sorry, but the cat that we were told to get…turns out isn't exactly…um, ordinary."

Sasuke looked at her, an eyebrow raised. "What do you mean?"

"Well, it's…big, a big cat. A really big cat." Karin tried to explain. "I guess it's…a lion."

The Uchiha looked at her incredulously. "A lion?"

Karin reluctantly nodded. "Yes, but I'm not sure. Maybe it's a lion, or a leopard or a tiger, I really don't know. I've never seen a cat like that and…it looks like a lion, but its _tail_…" Then she paused for quite a long moment.

"Karin, you're not being specific and you're only confusing me." Sasuke stated, sounding annoyed. "Besides, it makes no sense that Mr. Orochimaru wants us to deliver a lion to him. I don't even know if it's legal. Are you really sure with this?"

Karin seemed reluctant herself, but Sasuke didn't spare her time to think further. In the end, she gave out an exasperated stomp and moaned out, "_Oh_, I don't know! Maybe you should _see_ it yourself!" She said, a sour look overcame her face.

Sasuke twitched at her antic, but decided to overlook it this time. If her revelation was true, then Orochimaru wanted Sasuke to deliver an illegal animal for him. Of course he knew not of the law for delivering wildlife animals, but he knew an error will result in bad image to his company.

Sasuke couldn't risk that.

In contrary, he might also risk his partnership with the man, if he stuck his nose to where it didn't belong. But a single loss of a business partner wouldn't hurt that much either, rather than losing a whole company. An investigation must be done. Sasuke had to know what kind of animal given to his care.

Besides, a quick look wouldn't break a leg.

"Karin." Sasuke finally said, turning to Karin. "Do you have the papers?"

"Yes, right here." His secretary handed him a folder of document.

The Uchiha received it, briefly flipping the first page. Then he closed it. "Alright then, I'll take a look at it. Just in case."

Sasuke walked over to the door, Karin tailed him from behind. He nodded to the door guards and they unlocked the door, opening it for him. Sasuke flipped the folder again as he entered the room, reading the document papers. He didn't seem to pay attention to the sweet smell that walked past his nostrils when he entered.

_Spiral Petshop?_ He read the store where they got the feline. _Is there any petshop that sells lions? Unless it's a circus, I don't think I've ever heard of one_. The door was closed behind him, and Sasuke stopped on his track, looking thoughtful.

_Spiral Petshop…Store co-owner…Hatake Kakashi…signed…Orochimaru. This paper is signed and legal!_

He leaned to Karin, showing the document to her. "Karin, are you sure this shop is an ordinary petshop?"

When he realized the girl didn't answer his question, Sasuke glanced to her, only to find a petrified brunette. Sasuke was surprised to see the girl was standing motionless on her feet, face strangely flushed and her eyes seemed blank and focused, in such intensity that she didn't seem to notice Sasuke's presence.

Sasuke raised a puzzled brow.

Slowly, he turned his head and gazed in line with what had kept his secretary busy, when his dark onyx eyes caught a glimpse of something moving in the bed, his eyes went wide and the papers and folders scattered to his feet.

There was a man in the bed.

To say a man, he really more like a boy, a teenage boy. But what caught Sasuke's attention was the fact that he wore absolutely nothing to cover himself. He was bare for the world to witness, from head to toe. There were three pairs of animalistic scars on each of his cheek, resembling whiskers. And the next thing that stunned Sasuke, was his _ears_.

Ears. Were they ears? They were big and odd shaped. And furry. Very _furry_. They didn't look anything like how human ears should be. They were positioned a bit upper than his eyes, that flashed blue as they met with Sasuke's dark onyx. Sometimes tinges of red emerged on the pupils.

"So you're the owner of this place." The blonde boy said, eying at Sasuke with half-lidded eyes. He looked drowsy as if just awakened from a long sleep. "Honestly, why did you bring me to such place? Well, the bed is comfortable and fluffy, but nothing beats my own bed." He said, oddly resembling purrs.

Sasuke gaped, suddenly lost his voice.

The boy with odd ears yawned loudly, showing off a serial of teeth, with a pair of particularly sharp fangs glinted in light. A pair of fangs that was a bit too big and nasty in Sasuke's perception. Then the boy got on his hands and knees, arching his back like a bow, purring.

Taking in the sight, Sasuke unconsciously gulped. His eyes wandered to the boy's arching body. He somehow found it intriguing.

The blonde straightened his arms forth and his hips jutted back, once again whimpering in low purrs, screwing his eyes shut. Then he stuck out his tongue and began licking his knuckle like a cat washing itself. And suddenly Sasuke couldn't find air, eyes tightly locked to the boy, observing as his tongue left wet trails of saliva on his knuckle, how the tongue moved. In and out, in and out.

Sasuke felt something odd surging within his body, something resembling cold and yet searing hot. The more he saw the boy, the more those feelings strengthened. He didn't understand, and he couldn't stop it either.

He heard a small 'thump' beside him, and he saw Karin had collapsed. Her face awfully flushed and there were blood trails beneath her nostrils, though she was still moving.

The boy glanced up from his cat-washing activity, staring at the collapsed female. "Oh. Sorry. Not a very strong female, isn't she?" He lazily said, then glancing at Sasuke. He observed him the Uchiha from head to toe, seemingly intrigued. Sasuke felt like a product being displayed and appraised under his gaze.

"Hmm. You seem pretty strong, human. What's your name?" He asked, lolling his head to side. His eyes gleamed from blue to red.

Sasuke only stared at him, moving his mouth but no sound emerging.

"Not telling me? How mean, and here I am asking you nicely." The boy said, pouting a mouthful.

Sasuke suddenly had a strange urge to walk over there and just kiss the hell of—_No! What am I thinking!?_ His logic reminded him. _What is this? This boy makes me feel odd._

"Oh well, I can go there and get it myself then." The statement caused Sasuke to look up to him.

Then the blonde got off the bed with a jump, and Sasuke's eyes went wide when he noticed another strange trait the boy possessed.

Nine tails.

Nine fluffy, fuzzy, golden-colored tails were swaying behind the boy as he approached closer. They didn't look like fake, it seemed so real, and alive, and…_moving_. Seeing the tails, Sasuke suddenly recalled Karin's statement.

"_Yes, but I'm not sure. Maybe it's a lion, or a leopard or a tiger, I really don't know. I've never seen a cat like that and…it looks like a lion, but its __tail__…"_

Tail.

Nine tails.

Did this mean…?

_Impossible_, Sasuke mused, _she was talking about an animal, not a person. This kid might be strange, but he looks more like a human than some feline to me_.

"Hey, human lady. Can you be so kind and tell me what this person's name is?" Sasuke whipped his head towards the boy, who was crouching beside the awakening girl, who looked like she was about to faint again from the closeness of the boy.

"A-aah…he…his name…is…is…Uchiha Sasuke…" The woman stuttered, staring dreamily at the smiling boy. Her face was heavily flushed. "Now…now please…the two of you… _VIOLATE_ ME—"

"So, you're Sasuke." The blonde cut, draping one of his tails onto the woman's face. Sasuke reeled back as the boy got closer, he felt heat suddenly rose to his face.

"Actually, it's not the perfect timing for a first meeting, since you're unfortunately enough to come across me when the cherry blossom is blooming. But it can't be helped, can it? It's a mistake anyway." He smiled, reducing his eyes to slits.

"My name's Uzumaki Naruto. As you can see, I'm not a human. I'm a hybrid." Then he glanced up to see puzzled dark eyes.

"Are you my new master?"

Sasuke's eyes went wide.

"…is probably what you want me to ask." The blonde continued, smiling deceitfully. "Unfortunately, you got the wrong package." He said, bending his body to grab the scattering papers from the floor.

Sasuke quirked an eyebrow.

"I mean you got the wrong cat." The blonde stated, shoving the papers into Sasuke's hands. "I guess the cat you're looking for is a snow leopard named Kimimaro. Do I look like anything snowy to you?"

Sasuke glanced up from the paper to the boy, his eyes wandered to his furry golden ears and nine fuzzy tails in the same color. He tried to refrain himself from eying at his sexual organ, but found it extremely hard to accomplish. Aside that, he knew that there wasn't a single white color in the boy's features.

"I don't think so." He said, averting his eyes.

He wasn't aware that the boy had been staring at him until the boy approached him closer, leaning so close to his face that Sasuke could see the change of his eye color. He felt his heart was ready to burst and the heat flooded on his face, a strange sensation soaring within.

"Take responsibility." The blonde suddenly said.

Sasuke's eyes widened. "W-what?"

The blonde grinned. "You've brought me here by mistake and against my will, don't you think it's rude not to take the responsibility? Take me home."

Sasuke was about to move his mouth and said something, when the blonde cut him again.

"Besides, you can fetch Kimimaro too, I guess it's what you humans call 'hit two birds with a stone?' It's convenient to you too." He added, pouting.

If only the boy's _thing_ hadn't occasionally bumped against his thigh and he hadn't stuck his lower lip out and hadn't been utterly naked, Sasuke would've thrown a fierce argument. Too bad for him the boy had the whole package ready.

"I…" Sasuke stuttered.

"Please?" The blonde said, staring at the Uchiha with pleading eyes.

_Don't look at me like that_, Sasuke uncomfortably mused, feeling the heat rushed to somewhere more southern. "I guess…I could."

The blonde's expression suddenly lit up, a wide smile emerging on his lips and his eyes flashed bright blue. He threw his arms around Sasuke's neck and forcefully pulled him down, pressing his lips against his cheek in a soft kiss.

Pulling out, he smiled at the wide-eyed Uchiha. "Thanks, Sasuke." He jovially whispered.

Sasuke stared, wide-eyed and mouth slightly hung agape. He looked utterly taken aback.

"Let's go right away, I can't have Kakashi worried over me." The boy lightly said as he turned on his back, stretching his muscles. He glanced at the fainted female on the floor, seemingly worried. Then he glanced over his shoulder at the frozen Uchiha.

"And about your female—_Ah_." Naruto paused, taking in the sight of the Uchiha.

"Um, I'm really sorry, okay? I didn't mean to knock her out, and uh…" He scratched the back of his head nervously. "Sasuke…your nose is..."

The Uchiha slowly held up his chin to look up at the blonde. When he did, he felt something hot dripping from his nostrils to his chin. Curious, Sasuke brought a hand and touched it, pulling it away to see. His eyes widened at the sight of red sludge.

Blood.

Sasuke was sporting a nosebleed.

* * *

:To be continued…:

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_Note__: Yes, the preview is not complete, you see. I added a nose-bleeding Sasuke. XD Oh, and I got a worried review from __**dirneces**__ about whether this story will have OroNaru. And I feel the need to straighten this: Dear, don't worry; there won't be OroNaru. Even if I add it, it'll be so insignificant you'll forget it right away. And there will be NO OroNaru rape. No, never. The thought of Naruto being with anyone else but Sasuke itself frightens me. The SasuNaru fan's soul inside of me forbids! ;-)_

_Thank you for reading, and please tell me what you think!_

_Next Chapter__: Choosing a Mate_


	2. Choosing a Mate

_Note__: Oh my! Thank you very much for your wonderful responses. :-) I'm very glad you liked it. I was a bit worried the complete story was not as good as your expectation, so those reviews saved me a lot. ;-D Thank you! And enjoy the second chapter._

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**Beastly Instinct**

_Chapter 2: Choosing a Mate_

"Sasuke, this spare skin itch me." Naruto said as he pulled the front of an oversized polo shirt that hung like drapes on his figure. Nine fuzzy tails swayed from beneath the hem, as he leaned in towards the silent man beside him, crawling on his hands and knees in the backseat of the car.

Sasuke coughed softly, his eyes fixated at opposite direction. A neatly folded indigo handkerchief was covering his nose. "Bear with it." He tonelessly said, tightening the hold on his nose.

The blonde pouted, narrowing his cerulean eyes. "I don't understand why humans need these artificial spare skins and furs. It's itchy and uncomfortable and hot! My birth furs are better than this; they keep me cool in summer and warm me during winter, can I just—"

"Dobe," The raven interrupted chilly, switching his gaze to glare at the blonde. "If you don't want me to stop the car and drop you, stop complaining and keep that shirt on."

"Don't call me that." Naruto groaned softly, baring his fangs.

"Then at least sit properly if you don't want me to." Sasuke responded coldly, fixating his eyes at the scenery beyond the window.

Naruto growled in low tone and withdrew himself to sit, baring his fangs and glaring to space. He didn't realize the Uchiha was staring at him in an extant of intensity, ogling the boy's figure from his oddly shaped ears to his fuzzy tails to the feet and hands with sharp long claws. Sasuke had to admit the boy had unusual animalistic traits in him, but it was simply…hard to admit that he wasn't human, but a hybrid.

Hybrid.

Sasuke had heard rumors about them before. He heard hybrid was the rarest race among the rare, it was a race of half-man half-beast creatures that only had several tens of population in the world. Some considered them as a holy race, some even worshiped them.

But to elites and riches, hybrids were like rare exotic animals they wanted to add to their collection. The price of a hybrid may cost a whole fortune in the market. But Sasuke thought it was only rumors so he didn't pay attention to such things.

And this boy claimed to be one of them.

"Sasuke," The blonde called out softly, interrupting his train of thoughts. The raven raised his gaze to find the boy was stealing reluctant glances at him, his furry ears were dropped.

"I'm sorry about earlier. I've caused you troubles last time. I mustn't complain." He gestured to his oversized shirt by pulling the collar. "If this is human's culture, I guess I can endure. Kakashi once told me humans don't like to see each other furless, he said it'll get their balls up."

Sasuke gulped silently, pinching his nose beneath the cloth when he felt the searing wave of heat overwhelming to his nostrils again.

Getting out of the house was hard enough; they could barely past mountains of fainted bodies that scattered on the floor and an army of hungry carnivores.

When they went out of the room, the bodyguards who stood by the door started flushing at the sight of them for some unknown reason, before throwing themselves to their feet. And then some maids walked past them, they stopped in their tracks and swooned immediately after releasing loud groans and undignified shrieks and blood slipped down their nostrils like tap water. The rest of servants and maids and vassals in the manor were all swooning and having nosebleeds, if not darting towards them with the speed of a devil and never letting go when they caught one of them.

In fact, whenever they went, people around them suddenly sported the same symptoms; swooning, nose bleeding, face flushing, assaulting, stalking, and screaming strange things that were not meant to be said in front of children below thirteen, which was something like:

"Ooh…you're so _ORGASMIC_!"

"God bless you…PLEASE NAIL ME!"

"MOLEST ME RAW!!"

"Do you mind taking it up the ASS?"

"Forget I'm gay, I'LL EVEN GO LESBIAN FOR YOU!!"

"I'm a FELLATIO specialist!"

"I can be a VIRGIN for you!!"

"I may be already fifty, but I'm still _FIFTEEN_ AT HEART AND _BELOW_!!"

"I'LL EAT CROCODILE'S TESTICLES IF YOU WANT ME TO!!"

They clearly didn't act as they usually were.

It was an utter chaos in his mansion back then. Somehow they could (barely) find a sane driver and got the hell out of the hellhole as soon as possible.

Sasuke didn't know what had gotten into them that they acted that way, but he caught vague ideas about the certain reasons for their unlikely demeanor. He realized he might've caught the same symptoms, only lighter. He knew it all started with their first meeting.

He threw his gaze at the blonde boy in his left, who seemed noticing his stare and whipped his head towards him, lolling his head to side. The Uchiha unintentionally caught the sight of smooth bare legs under oversized shirt, the ones that pants could go through but nine fuzzy tails made the bottom stuck in the middle of a well-shaped plump ass, which he would love to plunge into in a good, steamy round of—

"Sasuke…?" The blonde reluctantly called. "Um, my face is up here?"

The Uchiha leashed his head up. "Oh. Sorry."

"Are you okay?"

Sasuke didn't answer the question. Instead he silently averted his eyes and switched his gaze back to the running scenery beyond the window, bringing up the stained indigo handkerchief to his nose.

He just bled again.

* * *

Sasuke took in the sight of a huge manor when he stepped out of the car, awed by the form of a supposedly shop. It was a European manor which was located in the middle of a hill by the town's outskirt; sized larger than his own and aged about several tens of years, the outside surface was built entirely by red bricks, and some bricks were already eaten by age, and the front garden was unorganized and the vegetation around the house and in its garden inside the cluster of brick wall was left growing wild.

"Our home." The blonde said at the other side of the car. "This is where we live."

Sasuke glanced at him. " 'we'…?"

"My friends, other hybrids like me." Naruto said with a smile. Then he ran towards the entrance, but stopped a few feet before the entrance. He stood there and suddenly went quiet.

He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. When Naruto snapped his eyes wide, his eyes turned crimson and he delivered a loud, hoarse roar into the air. The wave of his roar released a certain degree of pressure on the Uchiha's body as his ears caught the tremulous sound, petrifying his body. It was strong, straightforward, and dauntless; a roar that even trembled the air and his body. It was like…

Like a lion.

The roar lasted for a few seconds, before it slowly toned down and gradually disappeared as the hybrid boy lost his breath. Sasuke watched as Naruto threw his head back as he panted slightly, his chest weaved up and down unsteadily, clawed fingers ran through golden tresses.

He tilted his head and stared at the stunned Uchiha over his shoulder. "Sorry, did I surprise you? I was saying 'I'm home' in our language. I guess you're not used to it." He jovially said, grinning brightly.

Sasuke stayed silent. Something about the boy's smile and his beastly roar formulated strange sensation within his stomach, like flickering flame burning him from the insides. A bit similar to the one he felt before, the roar was unbelievably intense and…sexy.

He touched his nose, relieved when he found no red fluid.

"Naruto!!" Came a loud shout.

Sasuke held up his chin and looked at a silver-haired man was by the entrance, who wore a mask that concealed the lower part of his face and had a long vertical scar across one of his eyes, but there was no certain animalistic trait in him. He looked like a normal human.

The man made a quick beeline towards the blonde and stopped in front of him, grasping at his forearms. "Naruto, where have you been? Are you all right? We're so worried! You suddenly disappeared without a trace…" He stuttered.

"I'm fine, Kakashi. This person helped me." The blonde assured, turning to the Uchiha.

The taller man gazed in line with the blonde's eyes, finding a dark-haired man stood not far from them.

Then he walked past the blonde and stopped in front of Sasuke, his eyes reducing to slits. "I apologize for my rudeness. I was very relieved that I didn't see a guest. My name is Hatake Kakashi, the caretaker, thank you very much for taking care of our Naruto." He politely said, outstretching a hand towards Sasuke.

The Uchiha received his hand. "Don't mention it. I'm Uchiha Sasuke." He said, shaking hands with him.

"Pleased to meet you." Kakashi smiled beneath his mask. "If you don't mind, I'd like to properly say thank you to you. May be over a cup of tea?" He asked.

"No. You don't have to, I—"

"But I insist." Kakashi interrupted. "I'm guessing you must have a lot of questions concerning our Naruto, or perhaps…the business we run."

Sasuke raised a fine brow at the approximately accurate guess, as if the man was able to read his mind. His mind warned him to reject this fishy offer, but the thought of coming home to clean up the mass of chaos had downright turned down the warning.

"If you insist." The Uchiha finally said.

"Thank you." Kakashi solemnly said. "Shall we?"

* * *

Kakashi led him to a room with an impressive collection of books lined up in shelves, he had a strong guess it was a study. The interior was beautiful, chock-full of antique furniture that was quite old, but well-taken care and clean, the atmosphere was very comfortable. The house itself was larger than he expected.

The man in charge approached the table, pushing a teacart. He carefully placed a porcelain teacup onto the table, in front of the Uchiha, and another at the opposite direction. Then he brought up a round teapot and poured light brown liquid into Sasuke's cup, "I hope you like Earl Grey." He said, pulling away the pot.

"I don't hate it." The Uchiha said.

"Sugar?"

"No thank you."

Sasuke watched as Kakashi poured tea into his own cup, settling the teapot to the table. Then he suddenly threw his gaze towards the room entrance, feeling as if being watched. But found no one, or nothing at the door. He had been having the same creepy feeling ever since he stepped into the house.

"Uchiha-san, I would like to say thank you again for helping Naruto." Kakashi said, grabbing his attention.

"It was nothing." Sasuke said.

"Of course not. I want apologize for the troubles Naruto has caused you."

Sasuke paused at the sentence, bringing up his gaze from the cup with slight curious look on his face. "No, really. It was…_nothing_."

"No. I must apologize" Kakashi said, drowning his veiled chin on a bridge of entwined fingers. "You see, when your employee came, there was a pregnant mother who suddenly went into labor, so I had to help her. I…left your employee for a moment, and she mistook Naruto for Kimimaro. I really had no idea that Naruto was in the stall instead. I'm very sorry."

"It's fine." Sasuke said. "So that boy really is…a hybrid?"

"I guess you've figured it out yourself, haven't you? It's easy to tell he's not a human." Kakashi uttered lightly. "In fact, he's a hybrid of lion and nine-tailed fox."

The Uchiha's eyes went wide. "Lion and…nine-tailed fox?"

"You're from the Uchiha family, correct? I assume you've heard about hybrids."

"I know about them to certain extant, but I've never actually seen one before. This is the first." The Uchiha admitted, remembering the first time he saw Naruto, his ears and his tails.

"Do you want to know more?"

The Uchiha paused for a short moment, before reluctantly nodded. His curiosity had swelled even more than before. "Please."

"Hybrids are creatures that posses unique traits which they inherited from different parents, but hybrids don't consist only half-man half-beast creatures like Naruto." He began.

"In common interpretation, hybrids are considered as animals that were born from cross-breeding between two different parents, but still in the same species or family, for example, a liger was born from a male lion and female tiger, and such. This kind of hybrid is allowed to be known to people around the globe, but human hybrids are kept secret for some reasons. Generally, a perfect hybrid has three or more different types of genes instead of just two. And the genes are of completely different species or kingdom. Not all of them are meant to be though. Like a mix of lion and mermaid that results in the hideous merlion. But perfect combinations might result in wonderful creatures like unicorn or dragon."

Sasuke furrowed his eyebrows. "Why did they keep it a secret?"

"That is…I cannot say it specifically, but let's just say that human hybrids are almost the same as humans in general, but with animalistic traits and special abilities that no normal human has. Do you think people will just accept it whole-heartedly?" Kakashi lightly asked.

"I get your point." Sasuke said. "What kind of abilities are you talking about?"

"Oh. Nothing special really, hybrids' abilities are determined by the type of dominating genes they inherited. But in general, they have strong sense of smell, keen ears, pheromone…"

"Wait." The Uchiha interrupted, his expression suddenly lit up. "That. The last thing you mentioned."

"Pheromone?" Kakashi repeated. "If you want to know…Pheromone is a biological tool animals produce to attract opposite sex, its form is like certain unique scent the body releases, especially in mating season. It also acts as aphrodisiac to encourage mating ritual."

"Scent…?" Sasuke murmured softly. He recalled the moment he stepped into the room with Karin there was a sweet fragrance lingering in the air, was that it?

"—sorry for the troubles Naruto caused you." Kakashi concluded.

Sasuke brought up his head, glancing at the silver-haired man. "Excuse me?"

"Apparently, foxes have normal amount of pheromone." Kakashi began. "However, nine-tailed fox is a very special kind and extremely rare, its pheromone is nine times stronger than average fox or any animal in general. Lions, in the other hand posses great charisma and wisdom that live up to their title as the King of Jungle. And the combination of these has created one of a kind pheromone with tremendous effects. It triggers certain symptoms, causes temporary insanity, and affects most living creatures…"

Sasuke could feel the smug smirk when Kakashi uttered his last words. "…that's why I apologize. Naruto must've caused a _lot_ of troubles."

As if something sucked out his energy, Sasuke slumped down into the chair, wide-eyed. The information he received seemed very hard for him to digest, from the beginning to the last piece, it puzzled him. So the cause was that hybrid boy's—Naruto's pheromone, all of that chaos was because of his _trait_. His ability as a hybrid.

Sasuke couldn't imagine what kind of abilities other hybrids might posses.

"But you're pretty strong." Kakashi's voice awakened him.

"What?" He asked, vaguely remembered someone had said the same thing to him.

"Most people—_creatures_ would've become temporarily insane from the intensity of Naruto's pheromone. But I see that you're able to control yourself to this extant without any help. I'm impressed." Kakashi said.

"Are you saying that you've experienced those..._symptoms_ too?" Sasuke asked, surprised.

"Well, yes. Sometimes. I can't clearly remember when it happened though. It was hard to block his pheromone at first, but I gained control over it eventually." He jovially said.

"I see," Sasuke said, sounding relieved.

"Oh yeah, I have some medicines for you. It's on the plate." Kakashi pointed.

Raising his eyebrows, Sasuke raised the teacup and found two white tablets on the small plate. Curious, he entrapped them between his fingers, bringing it up.

"It's to prevent anemia." Kakashi gushed before he could ask.

Sasuke glanced at him, wide-eyed.

"I knew the moment you tried to hide your stained handkerchief."

"…thank you." Sasuke murmured, feeling heat rushed up to his face.

"You're welcome."

Kakashi paused when the door suddenly creaked opened. Both of them glanced towards the source of the creaking sound as the entrance fluttered open, a black animal peeked through the crack, its golden eyes fell to their forms. It stepped further in, revealing its full form. A panther. The panther settled itself by the entrance, eying silently at them with beady golden eyes.

"Excuse me." Kakashi said, standing up. Then he approached the panther, crouching down to its eyelevel. Sasuke watched as Kakashi stood up again, glancing at the Uchiha.

"I'm very sorry, Uchiha-san. But I have to leave you for a moment. Something came up, and it might take a couple of hours. If you'd like, I will escort you back to your car." The silver-haired man said, bowing apologetically.

"No! It's fine." The Uchiha quickly said, recalling the chaos that waited for him back in his house. He also had taken a day off. "I'll wait."

"Oh. Well then," Kakashi said, sounding unsure. "Feel free to entertain yourself, call me if you need something."

Sasuke nodded. He watched wordlessly as the man vanished from his line of vision along with the panther. The Uchiha suddenly found himself surrounded by a cluster of silence. He still felt the creepy feeling of being watched; it only intensified when he was completely alone, in a foreign house of hybrids.

Sasuke looked around, finding the books were the only thing that caught his interest.

He stood up, pushing his legs towards the bookshelves, stopping when he heard a rattling noise. Spontaneously, he whipped his head towards the source of the sounds, glancing at a crack between the window sills and pane. Sasuke raised an eyebrow, he was sure the window was closed before. Curios, he approached closer, raising the windowpane. He looked around but found nothing more than trees and bushes.

_Maybe it's just me_, he mused, intending to close the window.

But when he was about to close the windowpane, he saw a blur of something dashed into the window and lunged onto him, causing him to lose balance. Sasuke crashed against the floorboard headfirst and struck a sharp pain to his head, a hoarse scream ripped its way out of his throat. His vision was blurry when he opened his eyes, seeing blurred yellow color.

"Sorry! I'm sorry!! Are you okay?"

Sasuke furrowed his eyebrows and focused on the blurry form in front of him, his head was pounding painfully in his ears. His vision gradually returned as seconds passed, until he could distinctly identify three pairs of scars on each of his assaulter's cheeks.

"N-Naruto?" Sasuke stuttered, blinking.

"I'm sorry, Sasuke!" The blonde exclaimed, panic overcoming his face.

Sasuke brought body up, one of his elbows supported him and a hand caressed the lump on his head. "What are you doi—"

Naruto clasped a hand on Sasuke's mouth, his ears suddenly perked up. "Sshh." He whispered. Sasuke's onyx eyes widened when the blonde pushed him down until their bodies tightly pressed against each other, nine tails lowering.

They heard rash footsteps came closer, stopping right before the window.

"But I saw him running this way!" A high-pitched voice said.

"Naruto-san's not here, where is he? The ceremony is about to begin!" Another voice said.

"His scent is still here, he must be nearby!"

"NARUTO-SAAAAANNNN!! WHERE ARE YOU!?"

"NARUTOOOO!! TAYUYA IS RIGHT HERE!! CHOOSE ME!!"

"NO! CHOOSE ME INSTEAD!!"

"NO! ME!!"

"GO AWAY, BITCHES! HE'S MINE!"

Then their rushing footsteps began going away, slowly toning down. The two of them stayed in the same position until the noise completely vanished. Naruto released Sasuke's mouth but didn't get off, his ears were standing up.

"They're gone. _Finally_." Sasuke heard him moaned out. Then Naruto got rid of himself, releasing the Uchiha. Sasuke brought his body to sit, rubbing the lump on back of his head.

"Sorry Sasuke. I didn't mean to hurt you." Naruto said, glancing at Sasuke regretfully, his ears dropping.

"I'm fine." Sasuke managed to say. "Dobe… what _was_ that?"

"Uh, I ran away from the ceremony," Naruto said, sounding worried.

The Uchiha glanced at him. "What ceremony?"

"It's a ceremony to choose a mate, since the mating season is due next week." Naruto explained. "But they suddenly went feeding frenzy on me, so I got scared."

"…must be hard for you." Sasuke recalled Kakashi's explanation. He suddenly noticed the blonde was staring at him, with a look of plea overcoming his face. That made Sasuke felt uncomfortable. "What is it?" he asked, averting his eyes.

"Can I stay with you here?" Naruto said, causing the Uchiha to leash his head to him.

"I don't want to go back. Other places are too risky, this room is Kakashi's so other hybrids usually avoid this place. This is the best hiding place. Besides, you're here, I won't get bored." Naruto glanced at the suddenly petrified Uchiha. "Just until it's over. Please?"

Sasuke felt his head began hurting, Kakashi's words swam in the back of his mind, warning him. _It's a bad idea_, he mused, _if I let him, I'll go insane like the others_. But the way Naruto looked at him pleadingly made it hard to say no, it somewhat made him feel uncomfortable and hot.

"I…" Sasuke stuttered, feeling a bead of sweat trickled down his temples. "…o…kay."

The blonde's expression brightened. "Thank you, Sasuke!" He exclaimed, grinning widely.

The Uchiha sighed heavily, suddenly caught the sight of Naruto's torn attire. He was still wearing the oversized shirt Sasuke gave to him, but now the shirt was torn all over and had many holes on it, the blonde was practically naked. "Your shirt…"

"Ah, this?" Naruto pulled at the collar. "It got torn up when I was running. Sorry I mess up your spare skin, I'll get you a new one later." Sasuke watched as Naruto pulled off the shirt over his head, tossing the torn cloth elsewhere.

Sasuke didn't bleed this time.

But he was in a dire need for a long cold shower.

* * *

:To be continued…:

* * *

_Note:__ Thank you for reading! I hope I don't confuse you with the explanation. And I'm sorry to Singapore, I didn't mean to offend their merlion… :-) Please tell me what you think so I don't get a heart attack? I'm also thinking about writing side-pairings, any suggestion? XD_ _And please forgive me for the grammatical errors, I was rushing when I write this chapter._

_Next chapter:__ Auspicious Proposition_


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